Late Surge Isn’t Enough to Lift Penguins Past Boston

The Pittsburgh Penguins are into the final quarter of their season.

Unfortunately for them, the first game of what unofficially begins the stretch drive ended the way so many of the ones before it did.

With a loss.

Boston beat them, 3-2, at PPG Paints Arena Saturday afternoon to drop their record to 24-29-9. The Penguins are in 27th place in the 32-team NHL and ahead of only Buffalo in the Eastern Conference.

Boston took a 2-0 lead into the third period and had a chance to pad its advantage after David Pastrnak was awarded a penalty shot after being tripped by Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson, but Penguins goalie Alex Nedeljkovic stopped him.

Anthony Beauvillier spoiled Boston goalie Joonas Korpisalo’s shutout bid with a shorthanded goal at 14:01 of the third, as he received a pass from Kevin Hayes and scored from the right hash. Hayes’ assist was the only one on the goal, Beauvillier’s 13th.

The Penguins were awarded a four-minute power play with 94 seconds left in regulation when Cole Koepke high-sticked Rickard Rakell, but were unable to capitalize and Charlie Coyle made it 3-1 by hitting an empty net with 40.3 seconds to go.

Rakell scored with 21.4 seconds remaining, making the Penguins 1-for-7 with the extra man, but they couldn’t manufacture the goal that would have forced overtime.

Defenseman P.O Joseph returned to the lineup — and the top pairing, alongside Kris Letang — after being a healthy scratch for the Penguins’ 5-4 overtime victory against Philadelphia Thursday, although he was gone before the first intermission. Ryan Shea dropped from the No. 1 pairing to the No. 3 tandem to start the game, replacing Ryan Graves opposite Vincent Desharnais.

Emil Bemstrom replaced Boko Imama at left wing on the fourth line. Not having Imama in the lineup was an interesting decision, given the number of rugged players the Bruins dressed.

Especially when the game took a nasty turn not long after it started.

The Penguins gave up a goal on the first shot of the game for the third game in a row — and the 13th time this season — when Pastrnak beat Nedeljkovic on a breakaway at 1:32 of the opening period.

Pastrnak’s goal extended his points streak to 17 games.

Penguins center Evgeni Malkin picked up a hooking minor at 5:09, and Mason Lohrei threw a shot past Nedeljkovic from near the top of the left circle to make it 2-0.

However, between the time Malkin left the ice and when he stepped back on it, Bruins left winger Brad Marchand was injured when he absorbed a hit from behind by Joseph. Marchand appeared to strike his left shoulder and/or head when he went into the boards and had to be helped off the ice and to the dressing room.

There was no penalty assessed.

Marchand, who is the Bruins’ captain, did not return to the game because of what the team called an upper-body injury. He is on an expiring contract and his future has been the subject of considerable speculation in advance of the NHL’s trade deadline, set for 3 p.m. Friday.

The Penguins had a 5-on-3 power play for 62 seconds as the middle of the period approached, but couldn’t get any of their three shots during the two-man advantage past Korpisalo.

Boston winger Mark Kastelic, who missed badly on his first attempt to get a revenge hit on Joseph, connected on a follow-up try, delivering a check that knocked Joseph out of the game with an unspecified upper-body injury.

Nedeljkovic kept the Penguins within two by denying Koepke on a shorthanded breakaway while Boston was killing a tripping minor assessed to John Beecher at 9:48 of the second.

Beecher’s penalty marked the fourth time the Penguins’ failed to capitalize on a man-advantage.

Rakell had a chance to get the Penguins on the board with about seven minutes to go before the second intermission, but shot wide of the near post from near the inner edge of the right circle after getting a cross-ice feed from Bryan Rust.

The Penguins will complete their three-game homestand when they face Toronto Sunday afternoon at PPG Paints Arena.